24 January, 2003

Correction Regarding Microsoft Media Choices

Last week, I
talked about Amazon's purchase circles, and linked to the top-selling books by
Microsoft employees. Well, Adam Barr
set me straight. It turns out that the list I pointed to is the "uniquely
popular" list -- books that are uniquely popular at Microsoft,
compared to the rest of the county. And, it seems that the list is way out of
date.

Here's a
link to the list of top-selling books among Microsoft employees. Nothing too
surprising here. Three Harry Potter books in the top-10.

Adam Barr, by the way, is the author of Proudly Serving My Corporate
Masters, which is one of the books on the "uniquely popular" list. The
complete text of his book is now
available online.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

That Explains It

I haven't been able to access the RIAA web
site for the past few days. An article at InfoWorld explains why:
RIAA site attacked again. I think that makes 7-8 times in the past six
months.

By the way, this is not the RIAA site.
Notice the extra "a" in the URL.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Microsoft: Heed Your Own Advice

When I opened it, I was surprised to discover that the workbook contains
macros, yet it was not digitally signed. A digital signature, as you may know,
identifies the author of the file, so you can determine whether to trust it or
not. A file downloaded from Microsoft's site is probably safe, but I was still a
bit leery. After all, Microsoft has been known to spread viruses.

They certainly understand the importance of being safe:

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros provide a powerful
tool for customizing Microsoft Office applications. You can write macros to
automate common tasks, tie together several applications, or integrate Office
applications with custom data sources. Because VBA is so powerful and flexible,
it's necessary to apply good security practices to prevent malicious VBA macros
from infecting your documents or damaging your data. Office XP makes it easy to
require digital signatures on macros that you load into Word, Excel, or Access;
you can also sign individual documents so that others can verify that they are
authentic and that they haven't been tampered with since they were signed. These
measures complement the other security features in Office XP, including the
ability to encrypt documents and to require passwords before document or
worksheet objects can be modified.

Is it asking too much for Microsoft to digitally sign macros that will be
distributed to the public? I don't think so, especially in light of the current
"trustworthy computing" rhetoric.

Fact is, most people don't use digital signatures for Excel macro
projects. I receive lots of Excel files from strangers, and most contain macros.
I don't think a single one has ever been digitally signed. If the file looks
like it's worth examining, I'll open it with macros disabled. Then, it's a
simple matter to examine the macros for any signs of a virus or any other
potential problems.

But I was not able to do that with Microsoft's file because the VBA project
was password-protected. Just for fun, I cracked the password and checked it out.
No problems. But I was rather amused to discover that the workbook uses the old
Excel 5 dialog sheets rather than UserForms.

As a side note... I was digging around Microsoft's site for information about
digital signatures, and I found this document:
Macro
Security White Paper. It invites you to download a Word document, which is
contained in a self-extracting EXE file. Guess what? This EXE file also lacks
a digital signature!

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Fire Eating FAQ

Here's the link to
the
Fire Eating FAQ, which so many readers have requested. Keep in mind that
it's a "provisional document." The information may not be completely correct.

But this statement seems to have a ring of truth:

NEVER breathe in with a fire torch in your mouth, with fuel in
your mouth, or when you are blowing fire!

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Super Bowl Thoughts

"OK, now who's playing this year?"

"Tell me again why this is such a big deal?"

"I sure hope it doesn't screw up the traffic."

"I haven't watched any of the first 36, why should I start now?"

"Sunday would be an excellent day to go to the beach. We could probably
even find a place to park."

"The tailgating aspect does sound kinda fun."

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Microsoft Removes Reference to Embezzlement

About a month ago, a Microsoft employee named Danniel Feussner was arrested
for stealing $9 million worth of software for resale. The funny part was
that he flaunted his extravagant lifestyle with a web site (which is now dead).

I wrote a blog
item that linked to a
Microsoft Technet article that had some amusing references to embezzlement
(the article was written long before the Feussner incident surfaced). Well, it seems
that the article hit a bit too close to home. Microsoft has now modified the
article.

Original Text

Modified Text

Well, we're here to let you in on a little secret. Why do some
system administrators get fancy cars, yachts, and Rolex watches? It's because
they know how to write WMI scripts, and you don't!

Well, actually, that's a lie. If you know any system
administrators who are driving fancy cars, it's more likely that they're
embezzling company funds than spending their time writing WMI scripts.

Well, we're here to let you in on a little secret. It's because they know how
to write WMI scripts, and you don't!

Well, actually, that's a lie. The truth is, learning how to write WMI scripts
is not going to make you rich and famous (we just wish someone had told us that
before we took this job). On the other hand, WMI scripts can make your system
administration life much easier; scripts can carry out many of those tedious and
repetitive chores that seem to fill your day, and thus free up plenty of time
for you to do other things.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Stop Motion Studies

All imagery was shot in Paris, France between November 8 and
November 11, 2002. The camera used was a Canon 'PowerShot A40' - a consumer
grade still camera capable of taking roughly 64 low-resolution images per
minute. The photos were then brought into Flash MX to be programmatically
sequenced and formatted for the Web.

Dear Miss Manners

The
Miss
Manners etiquette column appears in many newspapers. I must confess that I
read practically every column. Unlike most newspaper columns, this one focuses
on important issues. And, I'm a sucker for columnists who refer to
themselves using third-person references.

As a result of this column, my social skills have improved
immensely, and I rarely embarrass my partner in public.

Today's column featured a series of thought-provoking questions:

Dear Miss Manners: What is the proper response when a store
employee asks how you're doing? Should you respond and then ask them how they
are? Or just respond? Or just get on with the task at hand? Does it make a
difference if the employee is a cashier vs. a floor person, or if there's a
line?

I've spent many hours pondering such questions, with no clear answer. And
Miss Manners' reply didn't really help. That's why I do all of my shopping
online.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

The Darwin Awards

In the course of my web travels, I've read dozens of references to the
Darwin Awards. But (until today) I
never took the time to actually visit the web site.

The Darwin Awards honor those who improve our gene pool by
removing themselves from it in really stupid ways. We commemorate those who gave
their all, adding a dose of chlorine to the pool.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

JD Lasssica on RSS Feeds

JD Lassica just published a fine article about news aggregator software and
RSS feeds. See News That
Comes to You at the Online Journalism Review.

I've been reading JD's blog for
quite a while. It's a great blog, but there's a small problem: The RSS feed for
JD's blog is messed up -- so much so that I'm not even able to read it using
NewzCrawler, my news aggregator software.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

Buy Jail Products Online

No need to
travel to a specialized jail supply store. You can fill all of your jail supply
needs online.

PX:Direct supplies authentic inmate uniforms, prisoner
restraints , and detention equipment , including jail cells, furnishing and
hardware. Installation available. Customers include Federal, State, County and
Military Correctional Facilities, Law Enforcement Agencies and the General
Public.

Coming to a Screen Near You: Internet Commercials

While viewing a content page, a streaming video commercial is
downloaded in the background to the user's computer. Once the user exits the
page (by clicking on any link on the page, manually inputting a URL, or clicking
on a 'favorite'), the video clip is launched immediately and displayed in the
same browser window, while the requested next page is being downloaded. Once the
requested page is downloaded, the commercial is automatically removed and the
requested page is displayed.

The web experience is similar to watching television, where
periods of content viewing are interrupted by short video commercial breaks.

That's one more reason to keep JavaScript disabled in your browser.

Posted on 24 January, 2003

:-)

The Smiley face emoticon was invented by
Scott Fahlman on 19
September, 1982.

Here's a link to a
Smiley Guide that features actual photos of people imitating various
emoticons. The guy pictured below is demonstrating the ever-popular "colon-p"
emoticon:

Top-100 Toys

The Toy Industry Association published a list of the
top-100 toys of the century. They range from Lionel Trains (1900) to Jumbo
Music Block (2001). It has lots of familiar toys, as well as quite a few that
I've never heard of.